BINGA - Villagers in this mainly
opposition-supporting remote districtlying more than 300 kilometres west of
Harare say ruling ZANU PF partymilitants are forcing them to join their
party.

Several villagers as well as local business-people and civil
servantsinterviewed by ZimOnline said the militants were forcing them to buy
ZANU PFmembership cards. Those who refused had been beaten up or had their
propertydestroyed and burnt down.

A teacher at a local
secondary school, Susan Ndou, said two of hercolleagues had been forcibly
expelled from the district by militants whoaccused them of influencing
students to support the main opposition Movementfor Democratic Change (MDC)
party.

She said: "This place is no longer safe especially for
teachers likeus. My two colleagues were expelled from the school after being
accused ofteaching opposition politics to their students."

Local businessman Silas Siwela said his grocery shop was burnt down
bysuspected ZANU PF militias and self-styled veterans of Zimbabwe's
1970sliberation war, who accused him of selling food to MDC
officials.

Both ZANU PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira and party
chairman JohnNkomo could not be reached for comment on the matter yesterday.
ZANU PF hasin the past strongly rejected claims its supporters commit
violence sayingsuch claims were mere opposition propaganda intended to
demonise the rulingparty and President Robert Mugabe.

But local
war veterans leader, Pius Nsingo alias Zvabhenda-Zvabhenda,told ZimOnline
that they were working to cleanse the area of all
MDCsupporters.

He said: "The MDC is like a disease, once it
enters your body you haveto go to the hospital or consult a traditional
healer to drive it out. Ifyou don't fight a disease it kills
you."

Most of Zimbabwe's rural voters have in previous elections
voted forZANU PF with Binga one of only a few rural areas that have backed
the MDC.The MDC has however said it will not participate in elections
including nextyear's crucial parliamentary ballot unless Zimbabwe's
electoral laws weresufficiently democratised. ZimOnline

HARARE - The decision by the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change(MDC) party to pull out of next
year's parliamentary election has triggeredfresh uncertainty in the business
sector, according to analysts.

They said failure to hold a credible
election next year would put paidefforts to attract back foreign aid, which
is critical to any attempts toresuscitate Zimbabwe's collapsing
economy.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), used as a yardstick
for acountry's credit worthiness, will most certainly not resume aid to
Zimbabwe.And local companies will find it even harder to regain their
foothold on theinternational market.

An official with one of
the country's largest hotel groups, ZimSunLeisure Group, said the leisure
and tourism industry would, "suffer shocksof the sanctions that might ensue
if the MDC boycotts the elections."

The official said ZimSun
suffered a decline of more than 20 percent inboth domestic and international
arrivals due to the general loss ofconfidence in the industry in the 12
months to March 31 2004. He said nextyear's results were likely to be
worse.

Chairman of industrial conglomerate TA Holdings, Shingai
Mutasa, said:"Our destiny as a nation and a company is intricately woven to
the politicaldispensation.

"It is my hope that the country's
leaders will initiate meaningfuldialogue with each other so that they find
an urgent solution to the currenteconomic malaise."

The MDC two
weeks ago said it was suspending participation inelections until the
country's electoral laws were brought in line withSouthern African
Development Community (SADC) norms and standards forelections.

Under the regional norms elections must be run by independentcommissions
while the electoral process must be sufficiently fair
andtransparent.

President Robert Mugabe has promised to set up
an independentelectoral commission that will be tasked with ensuring truly
free and fairelections in the country.

The MDC says Mugabe is
insincere pointing out that the proposedcommission will lack independence
because its chairman will be answerable tothe President. ZimOnline

HARARE - Non-Governmental
Organisations (NGOs) will tomorrow submittheir objections to a proposed new
law to govern NGOs in the country toParliament's Portfolio Committee on
Public Service, Labour and SocialWelfare.

The committee will
bring civic society's objections before the Housewhen it debates the draft
NGO Bill that civic activists say will virtuallyforce 90 percent of NGOs in
the country to shut down.

Nationwide street demonstrations to
protest against the Bill that hadbeen penciled in for tomorrow will now be
put on hold while NGOs attempt tolobby Parliament.

Crisis
Coalition of Zimbabwe chairman Brian Kagoro told ZimOnline:"Members of the
National Association of NGOs agreed in Harare to make theirsubmissions known
to the Parliamentary committee.

"There would be no demonstrations
but all civic society would gatherand make submissions."

Executive director of the NGOs' association Jonah Mudehwe said: "Wehave been
requested by NGOs to make use of the opportunities that are beingcreated by
Parliament for engagement. We are rigorously pursuingnegotiations for now
and not demonstrations." ZimOnline

Florentina Tsongarero (not her real name) is a
Zimbabwean nationalfrom Bulawayo. She is just over 50 years old, has eight
children, herhusband is dead and she earns between R540 and R1 500 a
month.

She is a domestic worker who, like most migrant workers,
sends moneyhome. Her desperation to put food on the table for her kids in
her home townhas driven her south to find employment.

Tsongarero is working illegally in South Africa. She doesn't have awork
permit and every day when she goes to her little room in Fourways, shespends
up to R20 on taxis and buses to and from the leafy suburbs where sheis
employed by Johannesburg's middle classes.

Her statelessness
prevents her from opening a bank account, fromunemployment benefits and from
all the labour legislation the state claimsto have put in place to assist
workers. She is, therefore, at the completemercy of her employers and the
authorities.

She has been in the city for a year. She goes about
her business witha hearty sense of humour, an unmistakeable humility and a
consistency thatare mostly written about in books.

Apart from
having to merely stay alive in the Zola Budd taxis thatscream along our
highways and byways, Tsongarero has a constant fear . At least once a
month, she finds herself travelling in a taxi thatis stopped by the metro
police.

All passengers are ordered to disembark and relevant papers
are askedfor. On every occasion that she's been stopped, she's had to fork
outbetween R20 and R100 to the officer who simply threatens to take her
toLindelani repatriation camp for the monthly exodus of foreign
nationals.

Tsongarero is part of the growing group of people on the
subcontinentwho are constantly on the move to find work. Apart from having
carried theburden of the mining industry, particularly gold mining, migrants
continueto be victims of the whims of corrupt officials.

Instead of trying to make her stay legal, and show the kind ofgenerosity of
spirit that Zimbabweans gave former Azanian People'sLiberation Army and MK
soldiers in the anti-apartheid struggle, our copsdegenerate into thuggish
behaviour, giving limited passage to vulnerablepeople for a sliver of
silver.

But then again, the police are only following the example
of theirpolitical bosses who cannot keep their fingers out of the tills when
flyingaround the country.

One of Sir
Mark Thatcher's key business partners has turned 'state witness'and is
alleged to have given dramatic new evidence to South African
policeinvestigating Thatcher's role in the alleged coup to overthrow the
Presidentof Equatorial Guinea.The revelation comes as speculation mounts
over what British and USofficials knew about the alleged plot and when.
Insiders claim thatofficials in both countries were aware of a planned
attempt to topple theleader of the oil-rich west African state, although
both governments havedenied this claim.

Thatcher's business partner,
former crack mercenary pilot Crause Steyl, isbelieved to have handed over
details of Thatcher's investment in an aviationfirm that had contracts with
Simon Mann, the old Etonian and former SASofficer in jail in
Zimbabwe.

The former Prime Minister's son was arrested in Cape Town last
week overaccusations that he helped finance the alleged coup that aimed to
overthrowPresident Obiang and replace him with the exiled Opposition leader
SeveroMoto.

The Observer, which first revealed details of Thatcher's
alleged involvementin the coup last month, has been told by South African
sources that Steylaccompanied Moto to the Canary Islands on the eve of the
day the allegedputsch was to happen.

They were flown from Madrid to
the islands in a South African-registeredKing Air 200 by a stunt pilot and
landed in the morning of 7 March. Theplane is then reported to have flown on
to the Malian capital of Bamakowhere Moto awaited news from the mercenary
leaders. The next day, the Boeing727 carrying Mann and his crew of more than
60 mercenaries was impounded inHarare and those on board
arrested.

Steyl's evidence could be highly damaging to Thatcher, who
faces 15 years injail after being charged last week with helping to finance
the mercenaryplot to topple the President. The government of Equatorial
Guinea isrequesting an interview with Thatcher in South Africa and is hoping
tohaving him extradited to face trial there.Thatcher's defence team in
Cape Town - which insists he is innocent of allcharges - believes Steyl is
emerging as central to the prosecution and saythey have been told to stay
away from him. The lawyers suspect that Steylhas given the South African
police a detailed affidavit containing severalstatements. Steyl was
unavailable for comment.

The Observer has obtained details of the
contract signed by Steyl and Mannon 16 January to provide aircraft and
aviation services. Steyl is alleged tohave persuaded Thatcher to invest
$250,000 (£139, 586) in a joint venturebetween a company called Triple A and
Mann's Guernsey firm Logo Ltd toprovide aircraft and aviation
services.

Thatcher's friends insist the investment was a 'peripheral one'
in a flyingdoctor service and that the initials Triple A stand for Air
AmbulanceAfrica. Similar cover stories have been used in mercenary
operations, SouthAfrican intelligence sources say, but Thatcher's friends
say that hisrelationship with Steyl may be 'exaggerated and
misinterpreted'.

Mann's associates say he relied increasingly on Steyl's
experience inrunning air operations as plans for the coup plot played out
this year. Thetwo first met when Mann established Executive Outcomes in
South Africa inthe early Nineties and won a contract to run military
operations in supportof the Angolan government's operations against Unita
rebels.

Steyl worked on several other private military operations such as
theExecutive Outcomes contract in Sierra Leone. It was Steyl and another
formermercenary who arranged the leasing from US Dodson Aviation of the
Boeing727-100 which was seized in Zimbabwe with 70 former South African
soldierson board last 7 March. Steyl's brother Neil was piloting it, and has
beenheld in Harare since March.

One of Steyl's associates suggested
that it was concern for his brother'sfate that prompted Crause Steyl to
start co-operating with the Zimbabweanand South African
investigations.

As further details emerge of the extraordinary coup plot,
speculation ismounting over the role played by western intelligence agencies
in thealleged plot to oust Obiang. An individual intimately involved in
thealleged coup has claimed that British officials were aware of the plot
toreplace Obiang with Moto.

South African sources claim the rumours
of the coup were circulating amongdiplomatic circles in Pretoria ear lier
this year - although the ForeignOffice denies any 'prior
knowledge'.

The allegation that British officials knew about the
potential illegal coupcomes amid claims from British and Spanish
intelligence agencies that Frenchspies helped to scupper the plot.

It
is also claimed that the US and Spanish security services were involvedin
the plot to replace the dictator of the tiny West African state, whichhas
vast oil reserves.

Although it is not suggested that British intelligence
was complicit in anycoup plot, the claim that some officials might have had
advance knowledge ofthe attempted putsch has prompted opposition politicians
to demand astatement from the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw. Menzies
Campbell, theLiberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, last night called
on thegovernment to come clean about its knowledge of the
operations.

Last night the Foreign Office categorically denied that it
had any 'priorknowledge of the alleged plot'.

The Observer has learnt
that in February this year there was a meeting atthe London headquarters of
the Royal Institute of International Affairs onthe future of Equatorial
Guinea. It is known that there was at least onegovernment official present
as well as representatives of the oil industry.According to sources present,
there were active discussions about rumours ofcoup plots there.

Mann
is accused of being the mercenary leader hired by mysterious businessand
political figures involved in an old-fashioned battle to control the
oilreserves. Up for grabs was a huge multi-million pound bounty of cash plus
ashare of lucrative oil concessions.

Many in the intelligence
community are asking whether a hidden hand wasplayed by Western powers. Some
suggest American, Spanish and Britishinterests offered their backing to
exiled Moto. On the other side were theFrench, who believed a successful
coup would have cemented US domination inthe country, where US oil giant
Exxon Mobil already enjoys the mostimportant drilling concessions. British
intelligence sources have suggestedthat the French learned of the plot and
helped to sabotage it.

Spanish intelligence sources have made similar
claims. Former Spanish PrimeMinister José María Aznar was a close ally of
the exiled Moto, who lived inMadrid.

Mann, who was found guilty on
Friday in a Zimbabwean court of attempting tobuy arms for the botched coup,
confessed to Spanish involvement in plot.

The Spanish government has
denied this claim. But it has emerged thatearlier this year two Spanish
warships left the Nato naval base based nearCádiz. One of the frigates had
on board 500 elite troops and the soldiersare reported to have been told
they were heading for Equatorial Guinea.

Nick du Toit, one of Mann's
alleged accomplices arrested in EquatorialGuinea, told the country's court
last week: 'The Spanish government wouldrecognise the Moto government and it
had the blessing of some Americanhigher-up politicians.' Moto has dismissed
the coup plot as 'completefiction'.

It was Du Toit who named Thatcher
in a statement last week that led to hisarrest. Thatcher's alleged
involvement first emerged when The Observerobtained details of two letters
written by Mann from prison referring to theformer Prime Minister's son as
'Scratcher'.

Young Memory Moyo
witnessed the horror of her village being burnt anddestroyed by President
Robert Mugabe's notorious youth militias.

She witnessed her young
friends being raped and tortured by the youthsknown as Green Bombers. She
decided to flee Zimbabwe after fighting offseveral attempts to rape her. She
says she never expected a life of milk andhoney on coming to
Johannesburg.

After home affairs authorities issued her with an
Asylum Seeker'sTemporary Permit which allows her to stay and work in South
Africa, she hadhoped the income earned from plaiting women's hair would
allow her thebasics of survival.

But now the 19-year-old Moyo
says her life in Johannesburg has become"hell on earth" thanks to the South
Africa Police Service (SAPS).

"We (Zimbabwean refugees) seem to
have become a lucrative industry forthe SA police," said an angry Moyo
shortly after her recent release from theLindela refugee holding centre near
Johannesburg.

"They (SA police) are just as cruel as Mugabe's
notorious militia.They arrest us and demand bribes or sexual favours in
exchange for not beingdeported."

Moyo has been arrested several
times even though she holds thetemporary asylum permit, the most recent
arrest was following yet anotherpolice swoop on illegal immigrants in and
around Hillbrow.

She claims police officers tore up her permit and
loaded her into theback of a police truck bound for Lindela, where arrested
immigrants are heldpending deportation.

She was told she could
avoid deportation if she had sex with each ofthe four police officers and
paid a R400 bribe.

"I refused both options and they offloaded me at
Lindela and urged mydeportation. They did not even mention that they had
torn up my temporaryrefugee permit and I was not an illegal
immigrant."

She was held for four days and her deportation papers
were ready whena sympathetic immigration official finally listened to her
story. Her namewas checked against the department's computer files which
confirmed that shehad been granted the temporary asylum permit. She was
released.

Several Zimbabwean political refugees who have been
returned toZimbabwe have allegedly disappeared after being accused of
"treachery".

Despite the risks Moyo says she has decided to go
public with herstory to expose "the sadistic" ways of the South African
police withdesperate young Zimbabwean girls.

She says many of
her friends who have fled to Johannesburg have become"unofficial wives" of
policemen here. She claims they are arrested, drivento dark areas where they
are forced to have sex with several officers at atime to avoid
deportation.

While some have legitimate refugee permits, many
others don't and thewait to get them is often a long one.

"The
police don't differentiate between who holds an official permitand who does
not. They harass everyone," says Moyo. "While it is theirlegitimate duty to
fish out and deport illegal immigrants, it's high timethey were stopped from
abusing their powers and victimising hapless girlsand women.

"They (the police) say it's them who have the power to decide whoshould live
in South Africa and who should not and don't care about HomeAffairs
permits," says Moyo.

"In the end, it's either you pay them or
submit to sex or both. Thishas become a nightmare world for us," says
Memory.

Another victim, Valentine Mpofu says she offered the police
hercellphone in exchange for her freedom when they arrested her over a
weekago. She did not have the bribery money and also resisted
sex.

"They refused the cellphone saying it would give them more
work intrying to find a buyer. So they took me to Lindela for deportation,"
shesays.

"They had also asked me if I was a virgin or not,
saying theypreferred to sleep with refugees who were virgins. I told them I
wasn't andresisted their advances. Luckily I was not raped."

At
Lindela, Mpofu, 21, was also lucky to find a sympatheticimmigration official
who checked her name against official records and foundher to be a
legitimate refugee. She gave her a permit to go back toRosettenville or
Pretoria to replace the temporary asylum seeker's permitdestroyed by the
police.

Nkosi says the refugees deported back to Zimbabwe are
accused ofbetraying Mugabe while in South Africa. They are taken to militia
torturecamps where many are raped and some are killed.

"While
we are here, it's difficult to maintain regular contact withhome because we
don't have resources. So our families think we are safehere," she
says.

Nkosi said the third time she was arrested, she was one among
20 otherpeople. By the time they reached Lindela, only nine remained; the
others hadpaid bribes to the officers and were dropped along the
way.

The Zimbabwean interviewees claimed a lot of abuses also took
place onthe train transporting deportees to the Zimbabwe border. They said
women andgirls are sexually abused in one of the coaches in the train
reserved forstaff.

The situation was even worse for Zimbabwean
men who were accused ofbeing "thieves who are killing South African
policemen and committingrobberies."

Apart from paying bribes,
the men often endure heavy beatings andabuse.

Two young
Zimbabwean male refugees who did not want to be named saidthe police often
told them that Zimbabwe was not at war and that they shouldgo
back.

"We tell them that what's happening in Zimbabwe amounts to
war. Theyhardly listen," said one of the men. He said he saw no point in
SAauthorities issuing temporary asylum permits if the police trashed
them.

Only 12 Zimbabweans have reportedly been given full asylum
despitehundreds of thousands of applications. An estimated three
millionZimbabweans are now living either legally or illegally in South
Africa.

What all these refugees now want is for President Thabo
Mbeki toinstitute an inquiry into the abuse of refugees and temporary asylum
seekersby SA authorities including probing the "inhospitable and
horrible"conditions at Lindela where they say inmates are fed at most one or
no mealsper day.

They say they did not flee to South Africa out
of choice but becauseof political hardships which South Africans should
understand. They said thebehaviour of SA authorities flies in the face of
international conventionsfor refugees.

Lungelo Dlamini, the
spokesperson for the SAPS in Gauteng, said thepolice had dealt with cases of
alleged corruption involving the police andimmigrants but emphasised that
there was little the SAPS could do unless thevictims came forward to report
their grievances and backed them withevidence.

He said if they
were afraid to report to the police stations in personbut felt they had
compelling evidence, the victims could write letters tothe Commissioner of
Police detailing their cases or to station commanders atvarious police
stations and these would receive due attention.

"We do have
complaints of police corruption and we deal with them fromtime to time.
Although the complaints are of a general nature, we haveindeed received
corruption complaints relating to police and illegalimmigrants," said
Dlamini.

He said the SAPS would prosecute officers caught
soliciting bribes orabusing immigrants if the allegations were backed with
evidence.

Dlamini also encouraged refugees to report any forms of
abuse to theirrespective embassies in Pretoria, an option that seems totally
out forZimbabwean political refugees here. - Independent Foreign Service

By
AgenciesLast updated: 09/06/2004 04:00:24ZIMBABWE'S three foreign banks
are wallowing in unprecedented profits. Thethree multinationals made nearly
US$100 million (R650 million) in after-taxprofits in the six months to June,
an overall increase of nearly 2 000percent on the previous comparable
period.

The profits, described as "excessive" by some analysts, arose
because bankspaid depositors almost zero interest and threw these cheap
funds into themoney market, which was yielding as much as 320
percent.

Cumulatively, the banks, South Africa's Stanbic and British
banks StandardChartered and Barclays, reported an after-tax historical cost
profit ofZ$501.4 billion (R624 million) in the six months to June, compared
withZ$24.961 billion in the same period last year.

Standard
Chartered's Zimbabwe profit of Z$190 billion was triple that ofretail
banking in the rest of Africa and up by 1 908 percent on a year
ago.

Stanbic Bank's after-tax profits soared by 2 055 percent to Z$114.9
billion,which was about a half of what it made out of the rest of its
Africanoperations.

Barclays Bank reveals that it made Z$196.5 billion
out of Zimbabwe or athird of what it made in the rest of its African and
Middle East operations.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe decided that last
year's cheap borrowing wasone reason for inflation, which peaked in January
at 622 percent year onyear.

Over the past three years, banks paid
interest of zero to 10 percent whilerates on the market were around 30 to 50
percent.

The government
still has to pay interest that is accumulating. More thanZ$1.3 trillion
matured on one day in June.

Analysts say last year's high interest rates
pushed several "indigenous"banks into financial difficulties. Several
quality indigenous banks wereinfected by depositors' fears, which led to a
flight to the "safety" of themultinationals.

As the central bank
tightened liquidity and borrowing became more expensive,rewards to
depositors remained static.Minimum lending rates are still around 200
percent while deposits get 10percent at most.

"Banks had swathes of cheap cash this year, which they either
lent out at200 to 300 percent or put into financial bills.

"In
essence, they stole their depositors' funds as they paid them next
tonothing, and then lent it out at massive margins to the productive
sector,who they squeezed in order to make these excessive
profits."

The staggering riches of multinational banks will not cheer
their foreignshareholders as analysts say Zimbabwe cannot afford to allow
them to remitprofits.Business Report